South Korea could unlock over $100 billion in economic value by welcoming 1 million more skilled foreign graduates, according to new research that emphasizes immigration as a possible answer to the country’s shrinking workforce.
The Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry and a research team led by Korea University economics professor Kim Duk-pa released the findings Wednesday. They analyzed the economic effects of foreign talent using data from all 17 administrative regions of Korea between 2012 and 2023.
The study found that when the share of registered foreign university graduates in the economically active population rises by one percentage point, per capita gross regional domestic product increases by about 0.11 percent.
As of July, South Korea had a population of 51.68 million, according to Statistics Korea. About 29.75 million are classed as economically active, meaning they are aged 15 or older and either employed or actively seeking work.
Using this correlation, the researchers calculated that an additional 1 million foreign graduates could raise gross domestic product by around 6 percent, or about 145 trillion won ($104.3 billion). If the current 1.35 million registered foreign residents grew to 5 million, the gain could reach 361 trillion won.
I doubt that South Korea will want to stomach lower wages, employment opportunity and the eventual cultural upheaval Canada has had to ensure.
The default position of South and North Korea is eventual reunification under one democratic leadership.
It is possible for North Korea to one day no longer have a dictator ruling over it but can it ever find common ground with South Korea, a country so distinct from it due to time and circumstance?
However, I don't think South Korean president Lee Jae-Myung rejects reunification for those reasons:
President Lee Jae Myung vowed to respect North Korea's system and ruled out a unilateral approach to reunification of the Korean Peninsula, in the latest of Seoul's reconciliatory moves to resume inter-Korean dialogue, in his speech to mark the 80th anniversary of the liberation of the Korean Peninsula on Friday.
"We affirm our respect for the North’s current system, aver that we will not pursue any form of unification by absorption, and assert that we have no intention of engaging in hostile acts," Lee said in the ceremony to commemorate the Liberation Day holiday at the Sejong Center for the Performing Arts in Seoul.
This effectively reverses disgraced former President Yoon Suk Yeol's bid in 2024 to achieve a unified Korean Peninsula. Yoon had said, "The freedom we enjoy must be extended to the frozen kingdom of the North."
Reversing Yoon's stance, Lee said that he would take "proactive and gradual steps" to restore the 2018 inter-Korean military pact that was suspended by the Yoon administration in 2024. This could be achieved through actions, such as Seoul's latest move to remove loudspeakers along the border and stop sending propaganda leaflets to the North.
"Trust is built through actions, not words," he said.
Yes, and emboldening North Korea is quite an action.
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